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Hmmmmm..... don't know what the advisers are doing with "other peoples money".
--- U.S. started and kept the QE money machine running from late 2008. So, U.S. was the best of the breed at that time.
--- Europe was in the restrictive mode as I recall and there were a series of equity "fits", mostly during the springtime months (May). Greece was a concern and then Mr. Draghi did the "whatever it takes" thing with the European QE.
--- China got rolling again after the melt and bought every commodity in sight. That was good for a few years and of benefit to the Aussies (iron) and some folks in South America for awhile.
--- Japan began (again and/or still) their version of QE.
--- Some central banks continue to reduce rates here and there; I suspect, with the aspect of slow spending and the thought of deflation.
So, there was a strong dollar (commodity pricing globally), fracking finally started to produce changes in this countries energy reserves. The Euro and Japan QE provided a positive boost for investors, especially with tools like HEDJ and DXJ type funds. Recalling that the Euro/dollar was just about $1.60:$1 in 2008 and now runs around $1.14, more or less.
Don't know that anything disrupting has been provided. Just a few trinkets from the past several years that have shaped where some money travels and why. Not included is anything that is military, social or the particular changes of status in many middle eastern countries. Lots of stuff going on that we know about, and as much that we don't know about.
The U.S. is likely still the best of the economic turd piles for investing, but there are always investment gems here and there that come to life for a period of time.
I suppose if you were writing this article in 1980 or 1990 or 2010, the question would be "what kind of fool wastes his money on U.S. stocks?" Indeed, the ICI 2015 Factbook suggests that much of the apparent U.S. dominance was driven by the performance disparity just in 2014: the U.S. was up 13%, non-US was down 3%. There's an okay visual in a Rick Ferri article that shows a longer-term pattern.
In general, we invest when markets are rising. While I don't know for sure what has driven recent flows, that same ICI Factbook shows that only about 10% of the industry's assets are invested internationally. Maybe the shock of the 2007-09 collapse, precipitated mostly by the poor behavior of Wall Street, caused some recalibration?
In general and over the long term, value wins, small wins, unpopular wins. Small, valuable and unpopular are not universally and eternally the province of a single national market. That's mostly the reason that I rarely invest in "pure" funds; most of my equity funds are some combination of global or hybrid rather than domestic or international.
It might help if you define what you consider small, and whether you are looking for small cap, large cap, multicap. Personally, i like small cap intl separated from domestic, but others may like the global concept.
It might help if you define what you consider small, and whether you are looking for small cap, large cap, multicap. Personally, i like small cap intl separated from domestic, but others may like the global concept.
Not much to choose from. Andrew Foster argues that in the emerging markets, value hasn't worked because the corporate structures are so intertwined that the catalysts to unlock value never appear. He thinks that's changing, but slowly.
Pear Tree Polaris Small Cap (USBNX) or Pear Tree Polaris Foreign Value Small Cap (QUSOX) are worth checking; Polaris took over the former fund at the start of 2015. Causeway International Small Cap (CVISX) is new but value leaning and the Causeway folks have a pretty good heritage. Seafarer Overseas Growth & Income (SFGIX) has a much smaller cap than its peers and is, as you know, a favorite of mine.
Comments
--- U.S. started and kept the QE money machine running from late 2008. So, U.S. was the best of the breed at that time.
--- Europe was in the restrictive mode as I recall and there were a series of equity "fits", mostly during the springtime months (May). Greece was a concern and then Mr. Draghi did the "whatever it takes" thing with the European QE.
--- China got rolling again after the melt and bought every commodity in sight. That was good for a few years and of benefit to the Aussies (iron) and some folks in South America for awhile.
--- Japan began (again and/or still) their version of QE.
--- Some central banks continue to reduce rates here and there; I suspect, with the aspect of slow spending and the thought of deflation.
So, there was a strong dollar (commodity pricing globally), fracking finally started to produce changes in this countries energy reserves. The Euro and Japan QE provided a positive boost for investors, especially with tools like HEDJ and DXJ type funds. Recalling that the Euro/dollar was just about $1.60:$1 in 2008 and now runs around $1.14, more or less.
Don't know that anything disrupting has been provided. Just a few trinkets from the past several years that have shaped where some money travels and why.
Not included is anything that is military, social or the particular changes of status in many middle eastern countries.
Lots of stuff going on that we know about, and as much that we don't know about.
The U.S. is likely still the best of the economic turd piles for investing, but there are always investment gems here and there that come to life for a period of time.
Take care,
Catch
In general, we invest when markets are rising. While I don't know for sure what has driven recent flows, that same ICI Factbook shows that only about 10% of the industry's assets are invested internationally. Maybe the shock of the 2007-09 collapse, precipitated mostly by the poor behavior of Wall Street, caused some recalibration?
In general and over the long term, value wins, small wins, unpopular wins. Small, valuable and unpopular are not universally and eternally the province of a single national market. That's mostly the reason that I rarely invest in "pure" funds; most of my equity funds are some combination of global or hybrid rather than domestic or international.
As ever,
David
Thanks. Waggoner did go back 25y (though not analyzing discrete years), and there was followup too that might be of interest:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/27/investing-do-you-want-to-send-your-money-abroad/24077415/
Interesting about 10%, wow.
Pear Tree Polaris Small Cap (USBNX) or Pear Tree Polaris Foreign Value Small Cap (QUSOX) are worth checking; Polaris took over the former fund at the start of 2015. Causeway International Small Cap (CVISX) is new but value leaning and the Causeway folks have a pretty good heritage. Seafarer Overseas Growth & Income (SFGIX) has a much smaller cap than its peers and is, as you know, a favorite of mine.
I'll ponder a bit more.
David